Swedish Supreme Court rejects Pirate Bay founders final appeal

It's certainly not a good day to be a founder of The Pirate Bay. The legal saga centering on the founders of the file sharing site Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundström has been ongoing for several years. So far, the founders of been appealing the court decisions further and further up the Swedish legal ladder, and eventually they made it to the final rung with the Swedish Supreme Court.

The three founders were able to get their initial prison terms reduced in length during their legal battle, but the fines and prison terms that have been previously determined will stand. The Swedish Supreme Court announced today that it was denying the trio's final appeal. The prison terms for the three men will be as follows; Peter Sunde will serve an eight-month term in prison. Fredrik Neij will serve a 10-month prison sentence, and Carl Lundström will spend four months behind bars.

The men will all share in paying $6.8 million fine for damages. A fourth co-founder named Gottfrid Svartholm has also been part of the legal drama. He missed a hearing due to medical conditions, and then failed to show up at a subsequent hearing. This led the court to rule that his previous prison term of one year and his share the damages would stand and be made permanent. It's worth noting that in the Swedish legal system, it's apparently common for the courts to reduce sentences in cases over five years old by as much as 12 months, in this case that would mean none of the men would go to prison.